compromise in washington. first-quarter earnings beating the street. s&p christine shortt is here. she is joining us on the new warning signs from wall street. melissa: google knows all. we have the results to prove it. 326% return in just seven years. lori: not bad. i will take that. let's check in with nicole petallides at new york stock exchange. nicole: it has been trying to do so all day long. to the outside, it has now broken out. we are watching here the s&p 500. it is sitting near 1597. it is point to what from breaking its all-time record intraday high.

we won't watch that closely. as far as the dow jones industrials, not near it at this point. on the dow, though, we are seeing a mixed bag. we are watching some of the dow stocks. pfizer, in particular, is worth eight negative dow points. we are taking a look at the biggest percentage loser on the dow. their earnings and revenues as expectations. lipitor, the patent expired to that cholesterol drug. they continue to try to light to that. you can see it is down 3.5%. lori: thank you. melissa: president obama holding a last-minute press briefing. rich had said is standing by.

rich: one line that really stuck out to us is he said it is his job to make congress behave. he is talking about a large deficit deal. he wants to do so to eliminate some tax loopholes. >> there are content solutions to our problems right now. i cannot force republicans to embrace those common sense solutions. i can urge them do, i can put pressure on them, i can, you know, rallied the american people around those, you know, common sense solutions. ultimately, they themselves will have to say, i want to do the right thing. there are members who understand that deep down. they are worried about their

politics. it is tough. rich: the problem politically for the president is he says he prefer a broader deficit deal. he has signed laws like the faa so quested that ended those furloughs for air traffic control towers. we continue in washington with republicans resisting. back to you. melissa: thank you, richard. coming up, we will get lou dobbs take off president obama's comments as well. lori: a peak week for earnings this season. my next guest warns you should be looking at just the bottom line. joining me now is christine shortt. welcome back to the show. how are we doing so far this quarter? >> bottom-line growth is faring

pretty well. last time i was on, i said we were looking a range of four-5% by the end of the season. as you said, it is last peak week for earnings season. the belief by the end of the week, we will get him out 4% range. with that being said, certainly not a number to write home about. we are feeling a lot better than we were. lori: a lot of them were looking for revenue. >> a few weeks ago we were looking at revenue growth of about 4%. now, it is about half of that. that is in comparison to 60%. lori: is in europe? the mac it is europe. that is the excuse that companies are giving.

it is something that companies are saying they worry about into the next quarter as well. lori: we are seeing earnings growth. are these the two outstanding industries, in your view? >> yes. we are seeing about 17% growth in telecom. consumer discretionary about 9%. we have seen some impressive amounts from household durables. lori: investors love these stocks. the market itself is hitting new highs. it is so resilient. what is the story with the utilities? >> i think utilities is an interesting picture to look about. they are a leader for revenue growth. i think a lot that is because those companies are domestically

based. we are seeing utilities, telecom, those domestic sectors are beating on the revenue side. those are the sectors that are missing the revenue estimates. lori: on the downside, information technology, and, i guess, this speaks to personal computers these days. >> yes. we are seeing computers. lori: any surprises? what caught you off guard? anything? >> i think it was surprising that the telecom sector is doing as well as it was. it was less negative than we saw a year ago. the consumer, they have been

impacted. lori: what is your forecast for the following quarter and the duration of the year? >> we are looking out 4.5% growth in the last quarter. about 63% of companies have provided guidance. 73% of those were negative. that is the highest shia we have seen since we started collecting data in 2007. lori: knocking the sales out of the stock market. it is on believable. >> the thinking is that bad news of earnings actually translates. lori: sure especially with the fed. always a pleasure. >> thank you so much. melissa: the value of your house is rising. home prices in february rose at their fastest pace in seven

years. they all solve year over year gains. the euro zone crisis showing no signs of letting up. the unemployment rate hitting 12.1% last month. a new record high. more than 19 million people do not have jobs. economists expect that number to rise even further. that increases the likelihood that the bank will increase its lending on thursday. it is kicking off its policy meeting today. we are expecting the central bank to maintain its current policies. recent ratings on inflation and unemployment have been disappointing. tune in to fox business tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. eastern for full coverage of the fed decision. what google can tell us about the stock records next turn. it is very cool. that is ahead.

lori: plus, scott davis joins us from the white house. melissa: a whole new meaning for this bod for you. lori: what does that mean? i guess we will find out. check metals as we head to break. we are back after this. ♪ it's a brand new start.

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the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪ ♪ melissa: oil prices sliding back below $94 a barrel. phil flynn is in the pits of the cme. a mixed bag weighing on crew today. >> right now, that data when it comes to manufacturing and german unemployment. it is outweighing the hopes.

we are seeing a lot of downward pressure into this market. a lot of things are out play. tonight we have another inventory report. the chicago manufacturing number actually going into contraction. that is a strong sign that the u.s. manufacturing number will not be strong as well. that is causing a lot of traders to get out of that market right now. going forward, talking about opec. opec actually increased production. that may be a sign that they are getting a little bit desperate. we saw a big uptick in opec production. that is coming into play as well. saudi oil administrator made a big statement today. he said despite the fact that oil prices are week, we will see them increase their production output by 15 gallons.

melissa: he is always very clever about which he is trying to push the market. let me ask you very quickly about natural gas. getting hammered today. >> i don't think i would necessarily call it hammered. we get warmer temperatures here in chicago. we are in the 80s. the manufacturing data is a little weak. staying around 440, when it is 80 degrees in chicago, i do not think that is much of a pullback melissa: good point. lori: let's go back to the new york stock exchange. nicole petallides. nicole: all under pressure this year. today is no different. shipments have been falling. prices have been falling. it is down 6.5%.

it certainly has been under pressure. today it is down 1.7%. at least a good part of that comes from the numbers we have seen from newmont mining. when you talk about the gd ask, you are seeing it to the downside there. you can see 1.6%. lori: losing our games on the dow. melissa: budweiser making friends. they have released a new pint glass called the buddy cop. it uses a built in microchip that collects users via facebook when they link their cups

together. some consumers feel the concept is just a little bit creepy. it makes connecting with complete strangers in a bar a little bit too easy. lori: if you are just trying to be nice to someone and you have had a few too many, you have heard of the term "beer goggles" ; right? melissa: you can look back and be like wow. i have to go to a different bar. so many problems with this. lori: a terrible idea. president obama with some stern words for congress. lou dobbs is next. melissa: take a look at how the dollar is faring today. we have a dollar that is flat and you can see the dollar is weaker. we will be right back. ♪

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♪ >> 20 minutes past the hour. i have your fox news minute.

george zimmerman shot with shooting george zimmerman has waived his stand your ground. you do not have to retreat if you believe you are in danger of being killed. his trial will begin in june. he has pled not guilty. holland has its first king and 120 years. queen beatrix ended her time. the sacramento kings could be saying in california. they voted unanimously to reject the bid to move the kings to seattle. all 30 nba owners will vote on the matter next month. those are your headlines. but to melissa and lori. melissa: thank you so much.

president obama is addressing the media. listen to his reaction to this question on whether or not the president has enough juice to get his agenda through. >> you seem to suggest that somehow these folks over there have no responsibility and not my job is to somehow get them to behave. that is their job. they are elected, members of congress are elected, in order to do what is right for the constituencies and the american people. the only way for them to do that is to come up with a broader deal. that is exactly what i am trying to do is continue to talk to them about ways to fix this. melissa: i do not know about that. let's bring in lou dobbs. lou: he seemed so reasonable there; did it he?

surrender. to simply suspend their own critical judgment. let him feel the real power as an emperor should. did you notice he had it going down? i saw only the hair. [ laughter ] melissa: i do not know where we are headed with this. liz: i think this is about behaving. he is basically saying, i told you so on sequester. $44 billion over a course of seven months. it amounts to nothing. the way in which his executive branch has chosen, particularly with the faa to create pain, as

they so lovingly put it over at the executive branch, it worked in the case of the faa. the republicans were too smart by half, though. they went ahead and, let's fix that. it could be problematic of 2014. we are back where we were. there is not a strategy where you can control this government from one house. tracy: what did you think of the way the president handled the question on how they got the solution to the furloughs and white lace? i is that such a challenge?

lou: it is a challenge because it does not fit this president goals. these are the forgotten people. these are the vanished in the obama era. it will be in history because the republicans, quite frankly, have no one in their leadership capable of creating a strategy. that will be the test for 2014. it is also unclear, you know, as they listen to the president his little charming thing today -- it was none of those things. it was as if they were still too proximate to the white house press corps and dinner.

a little too thoughtful about one another's questions and answers. there was no real contention between the questioner and the person called upon to answer. it is a tiring job. a lot of responsibility. when you spew rhetoric like redline and game changer when you are talking about foreign policy then you have to walk all of that crap back and try to be a rational man -- by the way, we have to give him credit. he is being responsible on syria. he had to walk back his own nonsense in order to do so. there ought to be a fuse on a missile somewhere. these people need to be walked back. i think the president did a pretty good job of doing that

today. i want to give him kudos for doing that. melissa: lou dobbs. you can see him every day at this time. you can also see him at 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. eastern. art laffer is going to join you tonight. lou: he is. lori: i love all that stuff. i am a nerd. lou is going to hang out this hour. he is having such a blast. how government regulators are talking about investment info over social media. dennis: the bargain basement deal for building 102 stories high.

the real estate battle for the iconic empire state building. take a look at who is up and who is down right now as we head out to break. we will be right back. ♪ @

melissa: time for stocks now as we do every 15 minutes. let's head to the floor of new york stock exchange. our own nicole petallides is standing by. stocks searching for direction today. it has been a good month though? >> right, absolutely. the dow dipped into positive and negative territory back and forth as we're speaking right now, melissa. as you noted it has been a great month. we're seeing major averages up 1.6%, 1.7%. look at dow versus s&p 500. obviously we had a good month with the up arrows. the back and forth action really remained. there it is the come chart

we were talking about. i have to throw in the nasdaq hitting all-time highs, i'm sorry, highest levels since 2000 for nasdaq. i was stuck thinking about the s&p 500 which came within fractional levels of hitting the all-time intraday high. see if by the end of the day it may just do that. thanks so much. >> thanks. lori: the flash crash caused last week, sec is wrapping up a meeting to try to assess the implications of twitter to distribute public nfrlgs. bart chilton is the cftc commissioner. he joins us from washington, d.c.. >> good to be with you. lori: just to clarify the meeting is going on ail day today? >> it is, it is. i stepped away for you guys. i'm headed back there. lori: i want to get that clear. i read your opening remarks. you call for better regulation of so-called cheetah traders. i don't believe we ought to

make the cats extinct we need the regulatory tools in when they gopher ral. should be done. >> they're not required to be registered f if we have to check their books and records, we have to get a subpoena from the judge and meantime they may be headed for the paper shreader. it is pretty pedestrian step to test the programs before they get put into the markets. finally i think they she had to have kill programs in case the programs do gopher ral. that seems like. lori: wouldn't to accommodate these measures wouldn't it hurt everybody's bottom line? >> i don't think so. these guys are writing programs all the time. doesn't take them much to write a program, you have a stop-loss or top trading or ledge station it, may cost

us a little bit in order to look after them, but it shouldn't be much in the way of compliance costs i wouldn't think. lori: your take on this, the first panel this morning was titled, status update on customer protection technology. how far ahead do you think the hackers are than you guys, the good guys, if you will? >> well, they're, thanks for calling us good guys. i know that is in doubt once in a while. i think that they are. we are regulators. government is never going to be ahead of technology but it is our job to do the best we can to try to be nimble and quick and look around the corner and the hack attack last week i think was a real eye-opener for us that there is a confluence between the social networks on one hand and the marketing and computer programs. i think businesses all too often have looked at the social networks as really a marketing tool for them. how many friends can you get so that you can market to them. in today's world those things have have an impact on markets as we saw last

week. the question i have and what i asked this morning and what i will be talking about a little bit later, whether or not we do need to provide any basic safeguards. maybe businesses will take it on themselves to update and supersize their up cybersecurity. i would like to make sure they're doing it so we don't have a one-off that con not only impact markets but hurt consumers and investors alike. lori: one area of the criticism on the cftc, following up bankruptcies of mf global and perigrine financial. is proposal to increase residual capital to cover margin calls for commissions merchants, how is that being received? >> i think we put out a proposal that said we need to make sure that the positions that traders take are backed up. the question is whether or not we went too far in this, gets into the weeds but in this residual interest area and whether or not we're requiring that 100% of everything is margined all the time, 24/7, 365. i think our proposal

probably went too far in that regard put ultimately i think we'll get a, strike the right balance and we're listening now to people and hearing what they say and i look forward to getting something in place that will better protect markets because you go back to 2008, it was these sorts of things where people were overleveraged and didn't have the capital or the margin that got us into the economic mess we're in today. lori: yeah. >> we want to make we have an appropriate rule but we don't, that we're not overzealous regulators. lori: couple bad apples don't spoil whole bunch as saying goes. >> right, exactly. lori: bart chilton thanks for taking time out. conference. we'll let you get back. >> thanks. melissa: good stuff. 326% return in seven years. we'll talk to an economist who says google trengedz can predict the market as move. he has research to prove that. lori: scott davis joins us from the white house to discuss how his company is creating american jobs. let's first show you some interest rates with the markets looking for direction.

yield on 10-year is unchanged. historically low at 1.67%. there is a fed meeting underway as we speak. everyone is expecting the fed to keep its foot on the gas. we'll be right back.

>> i'm adam shapiro with your fox business brief. shares of security software-maker symantec plunged nearly 11% before triggering a single stock

circuit breaker. a person familiar with that matter told fox business that symantec executives have been in contact with nasdaq officials. zimmerman tack declined to comment on the dramatic stock drop. news corporation shareholders will get a chance to cast their vote june 11th on the plan to separate the conglomerate in two. the company's board has already approved the split. news corp is the parent company of the fox business network. best buy is selling its stake in carphone warehouse group's european business back to that company. the mostly cash deal is valued at roughly $775 million. significantly lower than the more than $2 billion it paid to raise its stake from 3 to 50%. that is the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

melissa: google knows all. a new study finds google trends can predict dick the

movement of the stock market but should you dism your financial visor just yet? we have one of the study's authors, an associate professor at warwick business school. thanks so much for joining us. the thing i thought was most interesting because i want to get to all this information was the top performing word you found, this is all based on google searches and the number of times that a search happens predicts sort of how people feel about the market and can predict trends in the market so the word that was the biggest single indicator was debt. what happened when people searched debt? >> so, actually our research at our business school together with doctor mote and professor adrian stanley at boston university found if more people are looking for search, for searches related to the term debt in a given week, then afterwards the market is very likely to fall. so we analyzed this very specifically by, by

constructing a hypothetical trading strategy. so, on increases in searches for the term like debt in a given week compared to previous weeks we sell the market in the beginning of the week, meaning we're shorting the market at the beginning and buying the position back one week later. that is one part of our strategy. and vice versa, if, less people were interested in the term debt, then, we opened a long position in the coming week and hold the position again for one week. so that's, the very simple strategy we constructed and a term like debt was one of our input time series coming from google. google gives you for free the information on weekly basis for most of the terms but even on a daily basis a very frequent terms. people worldwide are restricted to a certain country, looking for information. melissa: that is very interesting, average person watching this right now can

go to google to see how often people were searching the term debt. and as it went up it was an indicator more people were concerned and that tended to predict the stock market was going down. i thought it was very interesting some of the other words that were big predictors but correct me if i'm wrong but to the upside, color, stocks and restaurants? what's the connection there? >> so that is a good question. what is the overall picture, what is the underlying wife i don't remember that drives the stock market behavior. you're right, among a set of 98 key words we analyzed we put together very, very financially related subset of words like debt, nasdaq, housing and other terms but also terms like color, cancer, restaurant and others. in order to see or to answer the crucial question what's actually the thing which makes it successful. if you rank all the terms by

their performance, then you see already by visual inspection that more financially-related terms are more likely to end or to end up with a higher return and that's something which we proven in the paper which was last week published in san francisco. melissa: i want to break in so we get it in. another big indicator was ring, right? >> absolutely. so we are not claiming that a certain individual key word is actually had predictive power. the overall in the paper more financially related term is, more likely it is has some predictive power for subsequent stock market moves that ising we have quantitatively shown by actually counting or measuring how financially related a term is by literally often how often a term turns up in financial literature compared to general literature. melissa: i wish we had more time, interesting stuff. professor price, thanks so much. >> thank you very much.

lori: let's get you updated on the markets with the dow up four points. albert freed and company ben willis joins us from the floor of the new york stock exchange. what is key for the performance of the markets rest of the week? we have the fed and another big jobs report come friday. >> granddaddy of all numbers is friday no matter how you slice it. yes, there is great deal of interest with what the fed is going to have to say in light of the very weak economic data we're seeing out of different regions again today with the chicago pmi. so we are fully expecting the fed to say something along the lines of, we continue to stay ready to add liquidity to this market which is a 180 degrees turn from the expectation not too long ago they would be taking their foot off the accelerator. that is what they're looking to for the fomc but friday will be all-telling. lori: we're looking at new records here. we're not there yet and for the dow to retrace its record close not perhaps today but soon perhaps, if, then, ben, you think we're

on the right track for that? >> i have no doubt by the end of the this year all the major indices will be on the plus side. i, however, have been looking for a healthy correction we have not seen any significant pullbacks. maybe 2% in one given day but they have been very short-lived. today is a great example. we had a little bit of pressure to the downside, particularly with pfizer in the dow but the market now continues to move itself to the upside. we're seeing rotation into equities but now within equities from more defensive plays into the higher beta issues. there is still some strength in this bull. lori: boy that last point especially showing investors are looking for more risk says a lot. thank you, ben willis. so president obama's outlining a new initiative here designed to help veterans and their spouses find jobs. rich edson is at the white house after speaking with ups ceo scott davis. rich, how does this all work? >> well this is pretty encouraging sign. it is basically to get private businesses to commit and train and hire veterans returning from their military service with a goal of hiring 100,000 veterans

by next year. there is already been 290,000 veterans trained or hired by various private companies. so we spoke to the ups ceo about that and also about his thoughts on the economy and tax reform. >> i think veterans make man fantastic employees and managers for almost every company. they come out of the service with tremendous leadership capabilities and a great work ethic and have big responsibilities when they're in the military. you bring them into our own operations they adjust fast. we see them advance within the company at a fast pace. it is not a sacrifice at all hiring veterans. >> why do you think it is so slow for veterans to come back and them and family members have employment after serving? >> it is disappointing. ups will hire 25,000,000 over the next five years. a little over 10% of our workforce is veterans, about 24,000. we're doing our part and

hopefully we can do more. i think it is the state of the economy. a lot of uncertainty out there, small business and big business alike are sitting back and not making hiring decisions an investment decisions. >> what do you think about the overall state of the economy? are you happy where it is headed? do you think washington can do more? >> well, i would be very optimistic on the u.s. economy if we could make big decisions in washington. if we can see a little compromise. i think, you know, a big solution on the debt ceiling would really propel this country to faster growth but it will take compromise. we need to get it done and get it done in the next few months. >> do you think tax reform has to be part of it? >> it definitely has to be a part of it. way too complicated. if we can get together the proper tax reform, the proper tax cuts, u.s. would be postured for much faster than 2% growth we're seeing today. >> you think it is difficult, conversation about tax reform, some companies will pay less and others are going to pay more, what if ups ends up paying more in taxes?

>> we have all agreed it will be difference of opinion we understand we need to simplify the tax code. a lower overall corporate tax rate would make us more competitive with the rest of the world. we have competitors based in different parts of the world who have lower rates. it is tough for us to compete. i think, a rate with, you know, reducing some reductions could -- deductions would be fair and we'll live with it. >> one more note on the veterans hiring initiative. the white house says they have gotten pledges from different companies to hire 435,000 more veterans over the next five years. back to you. lori: rich as always, thank you. coming up next hour, markets now, steve schwarzman, chairman and ceo of blackstone. tracy byrnes and ashley webster will interview him on the white house push to hire more veterans. melissa: depending on how a judge rules today you could be part owner in the iconic empire state building. the courtroom battle details are just ahead. lori: bond market average flirting with a record.

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can. melissa: so you want your own piece of the empire state building? depending on how a new york judge rules today you just might be able to. joining me a brooklyn law school professor on what is holding back the empire state building's ipo. this is obviously a battle about money. how is it shaping up? what is at stake? >> the lawsuit decide by the judge will decide whether a buyout provision is effective or not and depending how it goes the ipo can proceed. melissa: basically there are large shareholders 75% of whom want to see the empire state building go into a reit. it can be in a ipo minority

are set against that. there is ancient contract says if they don't go along with the group they will only get $100 a share. is that true and what are those shares really worth? >> that is true on its face. but there is also a provision says if you don't vote for it but the approval goes forward, you can change your vote for 10 days after that vote is taken and as a result, people will be able to get their fair market value. melissa: what do you think the fair market value is? >> people price it around 300,000 or more. melissa: at end of the day will this end up going into the reit and becoming ipo and all viewers can buy a share of the empire state building? >> it appears it will. the judge seemed to imply that in his ruling at courthouse. melissa: is it popular to see this like buildings like empire state building? because this might be something interesting to our audience possibly own a piece in a reit like this.

i know goes into a reit with potentially 20 other famous buildings. >> reits are become more popular since the '90s. gives increase access to capital in the capital markets an creased liquidity for shares. melissa: original owners who got in on the bottom floor, how much money are they making over time? >> they bought the shares for 10,000 apiece. will sell it for 3 un,000 plus. -- 300,000 plus. so they're making out with a pretty penny. melissa: thanks for coming on. appreciate your time. coming up tonight on "money", ceo of landry's. he joins me from the milken institute. he will discuss the launch of first legal online gaming website in nevada. and how exciting the gaming industry is to have online gambling back in the united states. just what we need, right? that is, hey, it's a valid debate. it is a good generator. lori: blow it all on red, right? melissa: 5:00 p.m. eastern right here. lori: we want to leave you with this bit of breaking news. we're learning the exact size of apple's debt deal.

$17 billion. that is the biggest ever non-bank bond deal. apple gear up to fund a $100 billion capital program for shareholders for sticking with them when the time the shares were over $700 and now they're trading $443.80 a pop as you saw there. coming up blackstone joining white house push to hire more american veterans. steve schwarzman the chairman joins tracy byrnes and ashley webster next on fox business. don't miss it. change makes people nervous. but i see a world bursting with opportunity, with ideas, with ambition. i'm thinking about china, brazil, india. the world's a big place. i want to be a part of it. ishares international etfs. emerging markets and single countries. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing.

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ashley: welcome back, everybody. i'm ashley webster. tracy: i'm tracy byrnes. good jobs for american veterans. we like to hear that. blackstone is promising to hire 50,000 veterans in the next five years. and this is part of a white house push to get veterans to work. blackstone chief steve schwarzman is our special guest this hour.

ashley: shares of investor bancorp is hitting all-time high. kevin cummings plans to keep the bank on course in a different environment. it is a fox business exclusive. >> american home prices posting their biggest yearly jump in nearly seven years. s&p's david blitzer who helps put together today's case-shiller report will break down the brightest spots for housing right now. ashley: first stocks, wrapping up yet, another winning month but weather sensitive commodities not faring quite as well. of course we've bottom team coverage for you. nicole petallides on the floor of the nyse. sandra smith is in the pits of the cme. let's start with nicole down at the new york stock exchange. nicole. >> ashley and tracy we're seeing back and forth action and now all three main sqor averages with up arrows with the s&p 500 fraction alley away from the all-time

intraday high. that will be somebody to watch going into the close. the dow is up 17 points and the nasdaq has broken out and moved to levels that we haven't seen since the year 2000. there is nice one-month chart for the dow jones industrials. all three of major averages remain to the upslide for the month of april. you can see you do have up arrows for all of them there. the s&p and nasdaq th acom chart for one month. on wall street american express express and ibm are uping their dividends. dividend stocks are hot. apple whichcontinues to gain, six out of seven trading days up arrows there. best buy is really a winner today. up over 8% at any given point some there are plenty of winners to speak of but the pressure remains on a name like pfizer which has been weighing on the dow today. ashley: certainly has. nicole, thank you very much. >> cold, rainy weather this spring sending commodities on a wild ride. sandra smith has the latest

in today's trade. sandy, i heard you earlier bragging how nice it is in chicago today. >> at least for now we're going to enjoy it but there is definitely rain in the forecast and about 30-degree temperature drop. i will rub it in while i can. take your shots. this is live cattle pit in the cme group in chicago. they closed trading 1:00 p.m. central time, 2:00 p.m. eastern. we saw lot of actionseesawctiond speculation as we head into may and memorial day weekend is approaching when you seasonally get demand for beef products, pork products. you see a lot of volatility and volume in these contracts. however there is concern about the weather rolling across the west. a lot of cold, damp weather and what that will do for major cattle ranchers of the united states. so lots of seesaw action with both contracts finishing to the upside. look at wheat. the grain rooms have been rocking. corn finishing limit up in yesterday's trading session.

wheat the big star in today's trading session. for the month a big gainer. we continue to see hit a one-month high. that wet, cold weather causing concern for farmers and planting whether or not they will get around toing as much as they want to do. cotton, we ignored this one during the session but cotton turned out to be one of the biggest stars in today's session, with the longest rally in six weeks. adverse production is hurting production. in texas they're not getting as much rain as we are in midwest. so that is major concern and wean't talk about all thoseout talking about oil. they are affected by oil price as we are as well. oil gaining more than a dollar in today's session up a buck 20 at 93.0. watch those oil prices i should say down more than a buck in today's session. watch the prices guys. volatile, volatile action as well as all the commodities down here. back to you.

tracy: sandra smith said earlier it was 82 in chicago. ashley: yikes. tracy: good times. ashley: will be 50 tomorrow. our next guest said the large cap dividend gravy train ran out of steam but small caps are getting warmed up. rob, he joins me now. you say this year, last couple years it has been about the large cap dividend-paying stocks. why do you now turn your attention to the small caps? >> yeah, ashley, i've been on that large cap train the last few years but, a few reasons, i changed my colors at the beginning of the year. number one, i do think the dollar will start to nudge s whes year and that will sales for the big caps. two, that i think that the dividend tax increase earlier this year, although it is a minor effect is also going to take a little bit of the luster off the big cap stocks and finally we are actually entering or have entered the fifth year of this bull market. i know it doesn't feel like

that to viewers. as we go through a bull market it tends to broaden out from the larger caps to the small caps and international. so historically that is what we've seen along with the other reasons i mentioned why we'll see some small cap outperformance. ashley: how do you play that? what are you telling investors out there the best way to play the small caps? >> well i, you know, our firm really focuses on the big cap names for investors but i would say buying some etfs would certainly be, you want to, you know an individual investor wants to maintain a large cap portfolio just overweight what they would traditionally have in the small cap arena. and i would use etfs for that. ashley: you're overweight on financials and consumer staples. any stocks in particular? >> yeah. we've got, we've got a number of stocks we like in those areas, in finance aal space, allstate and bank of

new york mellon. in consumer staples, recent upgrade is starbucks. we could dig into any of those if you would like to dig into them. ashley: on the bank side, the biggest concern, rob, of course the regular race -- regulation, the environment is not particularly friendly for profits. basel iii requirements on capital. doesn't that give you any concern? two names iashley. mentioned are not really what you would call the traditional money center, big lending banks. allstate, of course an insurance company, sells about 10 times earnings. pretty cheap. and of course it is the second biggest personal property casualty insurer. bank of new york mellon is a big processing bank. they don't make loans. they don't really have the potential for a big whale trade problem like we saw with one of the big money centers recently. the processing busiss is just going bank busters as trading volumes are starting

to increase. you're right agree with you absolutely and shying away really from the bigger banks. ashley: you also, rob, overweight international. where in particular? >> well, once again, i think, ashley, what we're seeing here is kind of a global rate cutting cycle. in fact news is out that the ecb is probably going to consider cutting. ashley: yeah. >> but once again for individual investors, we wouldn't necessarily suggest picking individual countries. you can buy, you can buy an etf that represents the efa index and once again we would rec having an allocation there that is just slightly more than what we would normally recommend. ashley: great information. rob morgan, thank you very much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thanks, ashley. my pleasure. tracy: we've bottom so much more to come on this really busy news day. blackstone joining the white house's push to hire more american veterans. chairman steve schwarzman is our special guest ahead.

ashley: plus liz claman live at themien conference with some of the world's biggest power players including former british prime minister tony blair. that is coming up this hour. you don't want to miss that. look how oil is trading. sandra was telling us from the pits of cme, oil is big moverd. will be a volatile time for commodities. oil down more than a buck. 93.32 a barrel. metals are mixed today. gold and silver are up. copper down. we'll be right back. with a machine.ple what? customers didn't like it.

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ashley: it is time to make money with charles payne. this hour he is looking at a manufacturer of semiconductor and led assembly equipment. whatavyou got f us charles? >> i think it is kulicke & soffa [laughing] we were joking around how do you pronounce the name? i've been trading the stock 20 years. they're out of singapore

somewhere. tracy: canned call were saying. >> i thought, kukla, fran and ollie. they reported, stock trading two times average daily volume already. for me the guidance is pretty interesting. this could be something of an inflection point for them. the bkl at. they got rid of a lot of people but the guidance they gave was phenomenal. they sell semiconductor equipment, bonding machines and equipment. i think we're seeing a bit after move in the tech sector. this can be more volatile and high-risk than normal but i like way it trades unlike applied materials which is plodding giant and never goes anywhere. this periodically breaks out. i would like to see close of $11.66. my target is double top, at 13.69. ashley: is that when you get out? >> i will definitely take some chips off the table,

maybe before. if i can get a buck and a half on it would be a big trade. i like the way it is acthing . keep in mind this was $39 stocba in the day. this was a real high-flyer. it is not the sexiest stock in the space but it does trade pretty nicely. tracy: is that an over all tell for the entire tech sector, that the sexy is not working? doesn't seem to be that tech is high flying everywhere? >> that is great point you bring. by the way you could extrapolate that to the entire market. look at the stocks that have done well this year, solid blue chip names. tracy: dirty fingernail stuff. >> dirty fingernail stuff. microsoft, stuart varney --. tracy: you're channeling him.>> it is making a major break wrought, a lot of people are saying i've got to be in the market. go to some old faithful names i know. microsoft happens to be one of them. this is holder name, not a household name but people on street know this pretty well. ashley: having a good day today.

charlie brady put out a note saying volume on this stock almost doubled average. >> it is huge. i love volume. i love volume. i follow volume a lot. ashley: conviction. >> conviction by the smart boys too. ashley: there you go. >> there you go. ashley: you're one of them, charles. appreciate it. tracy: good stuff. well it is quarter past. time to check on the markets. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. hey, nicole. >> hi, tracy and ashley. taking a look at retailers looking at macy's jcpenney as you know they have been battling it over the last six months or so for sure pertaining to martha stewart's products. appeals court won't stop jcpenney sling m stewart products. they will be under the jcpenney everyday brand. they won't say martha stewart's great brand mere. this is what we heard not too long ago. this court backed up the priority court's findings. you think this would be good

news ultimately for jcpenney but doesn't appear this way. both names have actually sold off in the last 20 minutes or so though coming back a little bit. jcpenney is down 3.7% right now and year-to-date it has been under pressure down about 16% so fa yearwhen you'veg year on wall street but not jc penny. tracy: god, that is the little engine that could, that's for sure. we'll see you in 15 minutes, nicole. coming up new signs of strength for housing. s&p's david biter will tell us which cities are leading the recovery, blackstone chief steve schwarzman joins us from the white house. his company is joining a white house effort to give good jobs to american veterans. first look how the dollar is moving today. if you saw this earlier, saw this come up earlier, the dollar, well --. tracy: killer. ashley: it is lower against all of these fine currencies today, including the euro and the good ol' u.k. pound. we'll be right back.

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>> at 19 minutes past the hour, i'm patti ann browne with your fox news minute. president obama again said it would be a game-changer if syria used chemical weapons but he said he needs more facts before making any decision. the president said if

chemical arms were used the administration would quote, have to rethink the range of options that are available to us. meanwhile syrian tv reports 14 people are dead and 100 -- 103 are wounded after a car bomb exploded in central damascus. yesterday the syrian prime minister survived a car bomb blast near his convoy that killed six people. >> george zimmerman, charged with shooting unarmed er trayvon martin waived his stand your ground defense. he waived a hearing that would have. he has pleaded not guilty. those are the headlines, i'm patti anne brown. now back to tracy. tracy: patty ann, thanks very much, very much. more evidence of the housing recovery remains on track. case-shiller home price index shows prices in 20 cities are up 9.4 in february. that is the biggest increase

in close to he have is years that was. joining us s&p index committee chair, dave blitzer. thanks for coming back and talking to us about this. bob schiller, who is one of the coauthors as well was on earlier with dagen mcdowell and said, regardless of the numbers, we're not off to the races yet. how do you feel about that? >> well, i guess it is how long the race is. or how far you want to run as much as athing else. think numbers are very good. i think bob would agree they're good numbers about. it is very much a positive report. the real question is, will the economy sustain itself and, if that happens, housing should sustain itself. but if the economy faulters, housing might be at risk. from what i see of the economy, we have less fiscal stimulus than we had six months ago. we had tax increases at gunning of the year. we had spending cuts.

some spots are starting to weigh on the economy. if it weighs too much it threatens everything but housing. but right now the numbers look very good and i think ey on at asafe months forward. tracy: do they look good because we fell so far? get a city like phoenix, up 23% year-over-year. is phoenix on stepsably its own little bubble? >> well it seems to be in its own little spot because its numbers for the last few months have been far better than anyplace acy: right. >> it had a big pop sometime late last year. i think it is living off the pop. the 12-month numbers are flat to down given the latest report. but clearly that is very go. what we've seen in phoenix and a lot of other places first we're working through a huge tidal wave of foreclosures and, there is still a few homes going into foreclosure but far less than they were. so we're digging out of that. we've had in various parts

of the country, private equity companies buying up lots of houses and turning them into rental units. tracy: right. >> that has created a little bit of demand here. with home prices going up people are feeling more optimistic and people who were waifoseven years to buy a house, a few of them are probably in the market because with prices going up, they figure it may be time. tracy: you know what? almost like keeps feeding on itself, doesn't it? there are probably still people there are that unsure if interest rates will go lower so they're waiting. onfl side, we were talking about this here, how sellers are waiting because they think prices will go up. so they will not put houses on market. so prices get a little higher. everyone is kind of in this they?and see mode, aren't >> if you waiting for things to go lower they better get out a ruler and start measure. tracy: they're staying though. isn't it crazy how long they have been this low? >> it has been this low for quite some time, the federalrery

change things after the meeting this after tomorrow has sid ey're gog to stay this low for a while longer. i don't think they will go lower. i think price movement, people's perception of the general economy, those are the factors that are playing in right now. the last few months the balance of those factors has argued for higher prices and more robust housing market, as long as economy holds on we're likely to hold the trend for a while, not forever, my own sense is, comes, late summer into the fall we will see prices flatten out,ly seasonal. partly it will be time for a pause. tracy: so it is not officially off to the races then? david blitzer, thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. tracy: he is right though. but as you pointed out earlier too, consumer confidence theighest it's been in a long time. ashley: surprisingly high. tracy: so maybe there is hope for the seller? at least they're heading in the right direction, home prices

the as we just heard, indeed home prices are on the rise. that is good news for compie iven by the housmarket. jeff flock is at the penny mustard furniture company in must keying go, wisconsin, with more, jeff? >> i wish you guys were here you could smell the wood. it is a great spot. means so much to the economy. housing market drives so much of economy at places like this. these are dozens of shops around the midwest, we have the man who runs pen my mustard you contract with build your furniture. you loved the case-shiller number today? >> absolutely. good for furniture sales. when people buy homes they buy furniture. >> when prices go up we have the chart that kind of shows we've been on a very nice trend. >> we've been a very nice trend over the long haul going up nice for a while. >> this is true of furniture stocks. but first i want to look at homebuilder stocks. they have a real nice correlation if you look at the chart, but home

furnishings market also correlates very well to home prices. >> yes. when homes start to sell, people will move and build new homes and that will be very, very good for the home furnishings industry. >> what am i seeing guys do here by the way? what are you building? >> they're cutting straight line rip sauce, boards, even completely flat on each stand to make a top for a nightstand or dresser. >> these are high-end stuff. other furniture stocks like ethan allen of world, bassett, pier 1, la-z-boy kind of mixed because we have had a mixed market. they have great performance over the last year. rising tide of housing market lifts all boats. ashley: so important to the economy. jeff flock, thank you so much. we appreciate it. >> thank you, sir. tracy: blackstone chief steve schwarzman pledging to hire 50,000 veterans in the next five years. he is our special guest from the white house. we've gottthat next. ashley: plus liz claman live

from the milken conference with british prime minister tony blair. you don't wa to miss that. look at some of today's winners and losers. the dow just turning positive, we'll be right back.

♪ >> 90 # minutes to close, going to the floor of the new york city stock exchange with nicole. >> hi, taking a look at the major market averages. the s&p and also the nasdaq have up arrows, dow dipped back into negative territory. nadz deck impressive for tech savvy folks, nasdaq moving to

levels not seen since 2000 and s&p 500 against the all time record high intra-day, but didn't breakthrough, and dow back and forth today. look at a big name on wall street, here it is right now, down 14.5%, under pressure, first quarter earnings dropped 57%, so in thinking about pitching phones, revenue declines, and so it has been under pressure here today. also slashed the second quarter dividend as well, a winner year to date 30%. back to you. >> nicole, thank you very much. >> private equity giant, black zone, pledging to hire 50 thoirks veterans part of the white house's joining forces initiative to get the private sectors to hire vets in the families. chair and ceo, sir, thank you for joining us, it's been a busy day. on the website, you value

collaboration, initiative team work, exactly what the vets have, but how do you transition them in the private sector? what's blackstone going to do to help them do that if >> we have 80 companies all together with $120 billion of revenue in different locations. some of the locations, veterans will find our people, some of them we're going to seek out with department of labor website. we have training in a variety of the companies, so that, when we hire veterans, they just don't get hired necessarily for one position. they have a chance to rotate to find out where they fit best for themselves and also for our company, and so it's going to be a complex way of doing thins, but i think at the end of the day, there's going to be a dramatic pickup in the ability

to hire verett rap -- veterans. >> you have hilton hotels, and, of course, seaworld, most riantly you worked with, all companies looking to place veterans and are on board with you. >> well, now, different companies looking for different things. for example, sea world is looking for paramedics, which is sort of a real specialty that the military would have a lot of people relative to other groups train for. >> right. >> each withdrawn of the companies looking for different types of positions. we're looking for people with manager experience, projects in the armed services because some of our companies can grow faster if we have more capable middle managers to help drive those businesses. >> that's the exact characteristics of so many of the vets. sir, i have to ask you, the firm

does so much charity work, started thisads-like schorship in china,work with leukemia, and yet, you know, you stand in front of the white house, voted for romney, why is wall street vilified? there's so much philanthropic work done out of firms like your own. >> well, firms, like ourselves, like everyone else in america in this sense that we work hard to make our business successful, but we also do things in a philanthropic way that are important. we have major initiatives in the blackstone foundation to train students to be entrepreneurs so that they can grow businesses and increase employment. i got things i do personally like the scholars initiative in china, and i think that's a thing to normalize relationships around the world, but we all work hrd, ao what happens

with the other types of interests, like a lot of people in america, we squeeze them in. that's part of the life we're still working 120% on our basic business, and the other 20% we somehow find time for. >> more people need to know about the other 20% though; right? you founded the firm in 1985 with your partner. could you do it today based on all regulations and stuff out there killing the financial sector, could you start that firm today that now has $190 billion under management? >> well, i don't know i could start the same firm, but different opportunity -- different times in history give you different opportunities to take advantage of. right now younger people, maybe reason finance how we did in my time in the early 70s really

invent all kinds of businesses based on the internet, a lot of whom, you know, with names you know. >> sure. >> have been e enormously successful. what happens is entrepreneurial people find where the opportunity is and take advantage of it so i'm not a pessimist on the ability to, in effect, remake a success. it would just be a different type of success. >> yeah, it sure would be. talk about housing quickly. housing's on the up trend. you are the largest owner of homes in the u.s.. why do you see the housing industry right now? >> actually, we're the largest owner of houses in the united states. >> you're right, i corrected myself. >> no, no problem with that. we own them to represent them. you know, a lot of people would like to own homes and the number of homes built over four or five

years since the financial crisis has been way below normal-type levels, and people would like to occupy homes, they are cheaper on balance now than apartment living, but they just don't have the 20% down payments, and so what we're doing is fixing these homes up, used to be foreclosed, renting them to people having enormous success with that. we saw the housing general market, of course, because we are large owners of homes, and almost every place, not every place, but almost every place in the country has hit bottom and responding with increased prices and increased construction. >> love getting the word out. thanks for taking the time. >> thank you. >> all right. coming up, former british prime minister, tony blair, on the

future of the eurozone live with liz claman next. >> first as we do every time this time of day, look at the 10 and 30-year treasuries as we head out to break. ♪ money has to last longer. i don't want to pour over pie charts all day. i want to travel, and i want the income to do it. ishares incomes etfs. low cost and diversified. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

♪ >> i'm lori rothman, jcpenney

can sell the line of martha stewart home goods without her name pending the outcome of the trial with macy's. they denied the request if preliminary injunction blocking sale of items. they sold them last week under the jcp everyday brand. apple has the largest nonbank deal in history offering up a whopping $17 billion for sale. congress is to blame for the need to pay russia additional $4 # 24 million to get u.s. astronauts into space, and says the contract wouldn't have been necessary if congress approved its request for more follow-upping. that's the latest look at business from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

>> looks like kneelson is going digital trying out a new pilot program that tracks on line viewing of tv content. dennis kneale covering the story and joins us in studio. >> that's right, they are going where the viewers are in the op line viewing that's going to start the trial soon with nbc, fox, abc, cbs, univision, ae to have a service later this year to extend the decade's old monopoly o online which could overtake the most common way to watch tv. the biggest customers, the networks, hope to use online ratings to charge advertisers for the extra viewing falling to the internet. overall, we watch far more tv on tv screens than di veeses spending 41 hours a week watching content on some kind of screen, urs of realtime tv, two hours of time shifted tv, and four hours on line.

the online trend is not going to reduce how much time rewatch the tv screen. the numbers of show that tv usage last month was up 2% over a year ago among all viewers for the 24-hour day and up a little bit in prime time as well. it may be that the extra screenings are adding to tv watching, not reducing it. just one problem. they measure online viewing on laptops only, not on iphones or other smart phones or op the ipad or other tablets meaning netflix will not be measuredded. as they measure lab top viewing of sites like hulu and youtube, it leaves out millions of on line viewers watching on their iphones and tablets. networks want a price tag on it to deliver to advertisers. they are working to include the ipad and the like, but can't say when. >> at least they are starting, but there's a long way to go.

>> a little late to this one. >>tle. thanks very much. >> thanks. >> day two of the conference, and liz claman is talking to the most influential business leaders and politicians joining us now with a special guest. hey, liz. >> not just a business leader, but a world lead welcoming former prime minister of the u.k., tony blair, and you are easily one of the most stocked people here, running around, everybody's chasing you. thank you finish coaling on fox business. >> my pleasure, liz. >> a couple busy of weeks, not to mention the fact there's world leaders and former world leaders at every event from the dedication of the presidential library of president bush and margaret thatcher's funeral. what is the number one concern you hear them all articulate? >> i think they got two big things going together. one is the global economy. the other is what's happening out in the middle east.

you know, you could add north korea and other issues because i think those are the, you know, if you're in europe, it's probably the economy's the number one issue, and elsewhere, i think, people are very worried about the -- >> let me get to the european economic crisis right now. the . do you see a next domino falling? >> i mean, i hope not, but i don't think we're through it yet. truthfully, the problem is that the risks really now are as political as economic. for countries to go through periods of low or no growth, rising up employment, and having to make big structure reforms in labor markets, pensions, welfare, state services, this is really tough. if we can't get growth back in the european economy, i think we got a big, big challenge. >> obviously, you're at the leadership role now, but do you say thank goodness i opted out of the euro? >> this is the thing about

politics, liz. when really, really full of crisis, you think it's nice to be there. really? do you think the euro survives? >> i think on balance the euro will survive, but the reason i say "on balance" is because i think the european central bank has given the euro breathing space by pumping liquidity into the eurozone, but there's three problems, liquidity and the other two are solvency and growth. we got to clean up the financial balance sheet of the bank, and we got to produce growth in th european economy; otherwise, you're going to go through a continued peer, as i say, a slow growth, high up employment, and political and social strains are pronapsed. >> well, yes, and that muddles along, but you touch upon the middle east, and i'm going to presume you meant syria. do we have a crisis there, obviously, right now, and the injuries and wounds of the people there are now sort of

looking like they were caused by chemical weaponry where president assad may have used chemical weapons on his own people. my question to you, do we need a u.n. led force to remove assad from his position now? >> well, whether we need it or not is not going to happen because you don't gent the consent of all the u.n. members to do it, but, look, this is a situation where i'm afraid choices are ugly either way. if you intervene, it's one set of problems. if you don't intervene as we see, is another effect. >> would you send troops? >> look, i think what your president's doing and my prime minister's doing is right at the present time going through a deliberative process of seeing what works in this situation, but i do think if -- as it looks as if it is chemical weapons used, i do think, look, in any event, syria, brutality, the

civilian population are cause enough to be concerned. >> indeed. i didn't bring in terrorism, not necessarily home grown, but the situation here, the boston marathon, where two immigrants had come in, claiming political asylum, and they now lived here, and do you, prime minister, did deal with that, not just with the ira, but with bombings in 2005 in london. what can we do -- >> what can we do? >> trying to live as a free nation and have a marathon that's been going on for a hundred years, and these nefarious, evil groups try to attack us. >> right. when i think about this radical islamism, the real issue, it's this vie rise, ideology perversed on religion spread around the world. it's like revolutionary

communism which we beat by security, but we also defeated it by having a better idea, and i think what is essential now is that we realize we've also got to go -- as well as security measures, go to the roots of this issue. it is the issue of the radical people, the issue of the website -- >> we educated these two people in the united states. >> sure. >> at cambridge -- >> you're not the only source of education. that's the problem. there's websites, getting it, in some cases, in the -- >> other websites? >> no, but you got to fight back, and, you know, the foundation, the one thing i'll talk about here that i have about how you counter radicalization through educating young people towards a sense of respect to people who are different and freedom of worship and freedom of religion, not this perverted ideology based on a view that if u you don't believe what i believe, you're

my enemy. >> i know a lot of viewers agree with what you just said. we thank you, prime minister. we really appreciate you coming on fox business live. >> thank you. >> tony blair with forward thinking ideas on europe, syria, terrorism, and back to you in the studio. >> thank you very much. we'll be watching at the top of the hour here op fox business where she will have more. >> great to listen to tony blair. >> he's great. >> excellent speaker, clear thoughts. coming up, investors' bank shares hitting an all-time high, and the ceo is here in a fox business exclusive, next. >> first, take a look at today's winners as we break. dow's up eight points. we'll be right back. ♪

♪ >> shares of investors bank hitting an all-time high after regional bank reported bet thearn expected first quarter earnings announcing a new dividend. joining us in a fox business exclusive, investors bank ceo kevin crumbings. congratulations, there was a strong report, a 15th executive quarter where earnings per share increased by 15% or better year over year, very impressive. epa at 25 cents, beat the street. how you doing it? >> well, with hard work, staying close to the customers, and looking for acquisition opportunities. announced the 7th or 8th ang -- acquisition and gateway community financial down in philadelphia suburbs, 10 those deals are helping us in promoting the growth, and we're in a good position right now. >> important part of the

strategy to continue to look for opportunities to build? slur. we're lucky. we're only 45% public. >> okay. >> we have the opportunity to raise additional capital to give us a war chest when the wave of consolidation comes through, we'll be in a great position to do more acquisitions. >> you say big banks compete for making loans, once borrowed from the regional community banks. how much a challenge is that for you? >> well, the market place in new york-new jersey is competitive. the multifamily space and in the middle market. we feel we're at the size to make the $2 million loan, $500,000 loan, and $30 million loan with the high touch from management. >> how concerned are you about the regulations out there, bazal3, hurting the regional banks because up like the too big to fail, hurts profits to loan out money.

>> the regulatory environment is always an challenge. it's an opportunity. the smaller banks, burdens of the regulation maybe force them into be sellers, a great opportunity for us. of course, we're a good acquirer of banks. >> by the way, noted now never took top money, did you? >> yeah, no, we never did. we had the capital and rev -- leveraged it over five years. >> very good. thank you so much for being here, and i'm sure we'll talk to you again in the future, but impressive record. thanks so much for coming in. >> good to be here, thank you. all right. >> liz claman in the last hour of trading, exclusive interview with the ford motor group, bill ford, steve case, and later sitting down with the president and ceo of siemens. she's a busy girl. "countdown to

the closing bell" is next.

♪ >> friends of immigration reform, doubling down and spends big money to lobby congress also getting help from silicon fall -- valley heavy weights. this is a special edition of "countdown to the closing bell live from the milken institute of los angeles. ♪ liz: good afternoon, everyone, i'm liz claman live from beverley hills, california where